192 VOLUNTEER POLICE FOR PROVINCE WELLESLEY. 
ness, on being asked, with reference to a statement made in her 
presence by a witness in a case to which a relative of theirs was a 
party, whether such things could be, and how it came that they | 
were tolerated, replied that it was only for a few days and with the 
Kali. But Malay fathers and husbands, less indulgent to the frail- 
ties of her sex and race than this old lady, have frequently spoken 
to me bitterly of the extent to which the peace of families is dis- 
turbed and immorality promoted by Kalis. Some go so far as to 
say that most of the Malay women who become prostitutes in town 
have acquired their vicious habits when residing in the houses of 
Kalis and induced by them to take this infamous means of raising 
a fee of $20 or $30 to pay him for the divorce. Even the more 
respectable Kalis, who are not accused of debauching their suitors 
or leading them into debauchery, are, with rare exceptions, said to 
be accessible to bribes, and none of them has the slighest preten- 
sion to the qualifications necessary for the judge of a divorce or 
any other Court. ‘I regret to observe,’ writes Colonel Low, 
“ that, so far as my experience extends, there is not a native at 
“ this Settlement of Pinang who could be safely entrusted with the 
‘“‘ power of a Justice of the Peace or even witha lesser judicial 
“ mdependent authority.” * The more cultivated Malays them- 
selves say that the very word Kaliis an offence to them, and that 
* One of the present Kalis (not now recognised by Government) makes 
a living by selling inspection of the notes of marriages kept by, or for, bis 
father, who was the great Kali of Penang in his day. In a case that occurred 
not long ago he demanded $1,000 to search for and produce one of these notes. 
In this respect he is not worse than any other native would be who had the 
custody of papers of value. A Pénghfilu Bésar, who also acted as a sort of 
Notary for his district, drew up a will for a Malay who went on the pilgrim- 
age, leaving the will in the P&nehilu’s keeping. ‘The persons interested could 
not get it without paying a fee of $30. I advised them to take legal proceed- 
ings to recover it, but they said that the Pénghilu might deny that he had 
it, or produce it and give some evidence to invalidate it, and he was so highly 
reputed by the officers of Government and so much liked and trusted by the 
Judge that he was sure to be believed. In the former case compulsion would 
have been equally hazardous, as the opposite party might have made the 
Kalia present to burn the paper, and he would merely have had to say m 
Court that no such paper was to be found among his father’s records. The 
Kali’s father was a very gentlemanly and pleasant Avab of Mecca, a universal, 
favourite of the Huropeans, including the officials. In one of the first eases 
im which I was engeged in the Court he was called as a witness on the other 
side to speak as 40 some paner. In cross examination f asked him if he could 
read and write. He indignantly desired the interpreter to give him a Koran 
and began to read fluently from it, but unfortunately it turned out that he 
held it upside down, and I fear he never quite forgave me the discovery. 
He knew a great deal of it by heart. 
